August 18, 2017

Join the Bannon betting pool

"Get ready for Bannon the barbarian."

That's how one source close to Trump's essential barbarian puts it (although the barbarian appears to be anything but internally essential; "he has no projects or responsibilities to hand off" if he leaves the White House, says another source). The barbarian himself is pumped for some slash and burn, telling friends that "he is ready to go 'medieval' on enemies of Trump and his populist agenda."

All this according to Axios, which hedges its reporting on the anti-globalist pseudointellectual's immediate future. "Officials expect Bannon firing," although "Bannon might still survive," writes Axios' Jonathan Swan in a beautifully definitive … whatever. My question is, What difference does it make? Trump fires formal advisers only for them to become informal advisers: see Roger Stone, Corey Lewandowski, Anthony Scaramucci.

Those who don't wish to see Steve Bannon ever again are undoubtedly those among Trump's Potemkin village of military and diplomatic advisers. For in his chat with the American Prospect's Robert Kuttner, Bannon ill advisedly but utterly blew away the administration's myth of our superpower (or "hyperpower," as the Trumpian fascist Sebastian Gorka has sieg-heiled) over North Korea.

"There’s no military solution, forget it," said Bannon to Kuttner. "Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that ten million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s no military solution here, they got us."

Indeed they do, but that admission could not have sat well with either the cowardly tough guy in the Oval Office or those hired to maintain the myth of supreme and insurmountable American power. So my bet — Bannon is about to get the bloody axe.

***

Well, ahem, just as I clicked "publish" I looked at the TV screen and there was a chyron: "Bannon out after chaotic WH tenure." But from whom do I collect for this wasted post?

Comments

Join the Bannon betting pool

"Get ready for Bannon the barbarian."

That's how one source close to Trump's essential barbarian puts it (although the barbarian appears to be anything but internally essential; "he has no projects or responsibilities to hand off" if he leaves the White House, says another source). The barbarian himself is pumped for some slash and burn, telling friends that "he is ready to go 'medieval' on enemies of Trump and his populist agenda."

All this according to Axios, which hedges its reporting on the anti-globalist pseudointellectual's immediate future. "Officials expect Bannon firing," although "Bannon might still survive," writes Axios' Jonathan Swan in a beautifully definitive … whatever. My question is, What difference does it make? Trump fires formal advisers only for them to become informal advisers: see Roger Stone, Corey Lewandowski, Anthony Scaramucci.

Those who don't wish to see Steve Bannon ever again are undoubtedly those among Trump's Potemkin village of military and diplomatic advisers. For in his chat with the American Prospect's Robert Kuttner, Bannon ill advisedly but utterly blew away the administration's myth of our superpower (or "hyperpower," as the Trumpian fascist Sebastian Gorka has sieg-heiled) over North Korea.

"There’s no military solution, forget it," said Bannon to Kuttner. "Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that ten million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s no military solution here, they got us."

Indeed they do, but that admission could not have sat well with either the cowardly tough guy in the Oval Office or those hired to maintain the myth of supreme and insurmountable American power. So my bet — Bannon is about to get the bloody axe.

***

Well, ahem, just as I clicked "publish" I looked at the TV screen and there was a chyron: "Bannon out after chaotic WH tenure." But from whom do I collect for this wasted post?